Baseball

“I wrote 63 songs this year. They’re all about Jeter.” Just kidding. The game we love, the players we hate, and more.

Culture and Criticism

From Norman Mailer to Wendy Pepper — everything on film, TV, books, music, and snacks (shut up, raisins), plus the Girls’ Bike Club.

Donors Choose and Contests

Helping public schools, winning prizes, sending a crazy lady in a tomato costume out in public.

Stories, True and Otherwise

Monologues, travelogues, fiction, and fart humor. And hens. Don’t forget the hens.

The Vine

The Tomato Nation advice column addresses your questions on etiquette, grammar, romance, and pet misbehavior. Ask The Readers about books or fashion today!

The Vine: January 24, 2002
January 24, 2002 · No Comment

Sarah,
I would love your objective opinion on a problem I’m having with my mother-in-law. She is a 70-year-old chain-smoking alcoholic with various health problems. According to her, she is always on the brink of death. …

The Vine: January 23, 2002
January 23, 2002 · No Comment

Hey, Sarah:
My mom’s been sober for about ten years — as a result of extensive therapy, and a week at rehab. However, I’m starting to notice all the old signs again — brown paper bags …

The Vine: January 22, 2002
January 22, 2002 · No Comment

Dear Sars,
I have been friends with this girl for quite a few years now; she considers me her best friend, but lately I find that I cannot stand being around her. The problem is, she …

The Vine: January 31, 2002
January 21, 2002 · No Comment

Three times in the last two days, I have heard the expression “I’d rather be lucky than good.” What does that mean? Why is it better to be lucky than good? I didn’t know who …

One Angry Sars
January 21, 2002 · 4 Comments

Well, it’s over — fortunately for everyone, because if I had to hear one more person observe in a tone of unconvinced weariness that “it’s the best system in the world,” I’d have doused my …

The Vine: January 18, 2002
January 18, 2002 · No Comment

Dearest Sars,
I have a best friend, Boy X; I also have a problem. Around the same time we became friends, we also became, bluntly, fuck-buddies. This went on for four years. We’d stop for no …

The Vine: January 17, 2002
January 17, 2002 · No Comment

Sars,
After your grammar rant, you’re the new hero of my editorial department — so I figured that you’d be a good person to pose this question to.
How, in the name of all that’s holy, does …

The Vine: January 15, 2002
January 15, 2002 · No Comment

Dear Sarah,
My problem is one that seems like it should be so obvious to solve. I get clingy and needy when I am with a guy. It frustrates the hell out of me. I am …

Deliberate This
January 14, 2002 · No Comment

Today, my fellow jurors and I heard the fifth day of testimony in the case. Today, my fellow jurors and I watched as the courtroom turned into A/V Club, with videos and x-rays and dry-erase …

The Vine: January 11, 2002
January 11, 2002 · No Comment

Sars,
Help me out here…I know the honest truth in the situation but I think I need to hear it said. Okay?
I share an apartment with my best friend for the past year. Only problem…we have …